God Help The Girl
by teletubabe
Summary: They didn't know each other yet, but maybe they could help each other bit by bit. Gadge High School AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This story has themes of eating disorder and mental illness. If reading about these themes makes you uncomfortable, or perhaps they are triggering to you, please don't read this story.

* * *

Gale opens his locker swiftly. He couldn't recite the combination outloud, he's forgotten the numbers, but at some point within this typically mundane school year he ingrained the feel of the lock into his muscle memory. When he stares at the scattered contents inside he realizes that he never needed to open it in the first place. It's the start of a new semester, there isn't anything to take from it and it's too chilly in the school to shed his coat.

It's loud in the halls. People shout over one another to greet their friends, and Gale just wishes people would realize that it's been less than a week. It's funny how quickly some people can revert back to normalcy so easily, he can barely feel normal in his own skin.

"Hawthorne!" he hears from behind him. Thom is his best friend, but he could benefit from being a bit more subdued too. Everyone can, at 8:30 in the morning. "Gale, hey. Can I see your schedule?"

"Here," he nods, taking out the folded time table from his back pocket and handing it to him. "Anything together?"

"Yeah, History and English," Thom nods, giving the schedule back. "I have to go catch up with Delly before class starts. I'll see you later okay?"

Gale waves him off. He wonders briefly why he isn't as excited as everyone else for the new school semester to begin, maybe it's because he's more excited about getting out of this place.

Then, he sees a stranger turn into the hallway. She's clearly new, trying to read each of the little metal plates on the lockers to find her own. Gale hates the way his brain works, but his first thought is that she's beautiful. Her blonde hair and her pointed chin make her gorgeous in a willowy, soft sort of way, and when she walks down the aisle of metal doors, she bites her rosy lip in concentration. He never lets himself stare like this, but he wonders how something so bright could exist in this empty fucking place.

The longer she searches the more lost she begins to look, and Gale's ready to help her, already pacing towards her before some girls intervene. So he returns to his locker and pretends to check his phone while he observes her from his peripheral.

The minute she starts to speak he realizes that she's social. She immediately hits it off with with Glimmer and Clove, smiling loudly and showing them her locker assignment. Gale can't hear any of the conversation, but he thinks that she won't be too memorable of an addition to the student body to him. A lot of girls are pretty to look at, he can already tell that she'll be popular with the likes of Cato and Marvel.

The day passes by as expected. Generally in class, Gale's diligent when it's convenient and knows that he needs the grades to graduate. He's long accepted the fact that he needs to trudge through high school to get to the real world, but sometimes he still thinks about what he's doing here, all the things he could be doing if he was elsewhere.

He wants the summer to come quickly so that he can finish high school and get a full time job. His mom needs the help, he wishes he could do something meaningful to help his family rather than learn about the behaviour of a rational function.

A couple times in the day he sees the blonde haired girl within the school, always talking to new people and making new friends. Gale stops thinking anything of it, he usually doesn't think about most people at school anymore that don't concern him.

After classes though he's sitting in his beat up car, the one that he spent all of last summer trying to fix together and sees her cross the parking lot. She strides past him and enters a grey looking van. He wonders what kind of person drives that kind of car these days, but he's the one sitting in a 1998 Volvo; he supposes he has no argument.

Her name is still a mystery to him, he'll probably find out through somebody else within the course of the week. Everyone likes to talk around here. Usually Gale hates it, but today he can't wait. He can't help but be curious.

* * *

"Good afternoon, Madge," the nurse greets happily. Madge smiles back and sits patiently on the metal-framed cot. "How was your first day back at school?"

"It was good. Nice, actually. Everyone is really nice."

"That's wonderful to hear." The nurse takes the scale out from the closet and places it in the middle of the room while Madge thinks of more detailed items to tell her about.

"I mean, this isn't really my first day _back_ , you know? I didn't go to this school before, so it's all very brand new to me."

"But you made friends?"

"I think so," she shrugs, trying to recall some of the people that approached her. They all seemed amicable enough, maybe some of them will stick around for her.

"That's great. Strip for me, dear?"

On command, Madge takes off her shirt and stands up to shed her jeans. She crosses her arms not because of modesty, but because of the cool air. When she feels her elbows they're still pointy and uncomfortably gaunt. She knows the nurse won't be happy.

"Stand on here for me, Madge?"

Madge mounts the scale. The nurse underneath her looks at the numbers and writes things down. She wonders what the point of her doing that is, can't she tell that no improvement's been made? When Madge turns her head to the full length mirror lining the sliding closet, she studies her body closely. Her limbs have no life, and her ribs still show through a little bit.

"Not bad this week, Madge. No real progress in the numbers, but I've noticed your energy levels climbing. As long as you remain above 110 pounds, we're happy with your results."

"Thank you."

"Of course, dear. It's been a long day for you. I'll leave you alone to get some rest. There's a letter from your parents on the bedside table, alright?"

Madge nods, stepping off of the pedestal and immediately dressing herself again. The nurse finishes whatever she's writing into the file and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

The room is stale. It's too bright and too fluorescent. Madge misses home, she misses her parents and she misses her old life. The one that she ruined, the one that made her start purging.

She tears open the letter and skims through it - words of encouragement, a couple family updates and an old family photo. In the picture they're at an amusement park, five year old Madge is on her dad's shoulders and beaming while her mom hugs the torso of her husband. Madge doesn't know why they always send her childhood photos. If it's to make her cry or hate her present self, it's definitely working.

Her doctor and her psychiatrist both decided that it would be best to start reintegrating back into school. It was because her academics were definitely falling behind, having missed an entire semester of her senior year. But the second reason was that she barely interacted with kids her own age anymore. Or at least, no one that wasn't suffering through an illness like her. Everyone thought it was about time to venture outside of her comfort zone.

For being diagnosed with so many disorders and illnesses, Madge considers herself a rather high functioning patient. She doesn't think she came off as too particular at school today, she even got invited to a party on Friday to kick off the start of the year.

It would be fun, hopefully. Madge is hopeful about most things, as long as they don't personally concern her.

* * *

 **A/N:** This is an idea that came vaguely from a movie of the same title. It's a little bit different and darker, and I'm going to update when I please rather than weekly. If you would want to read more, I encourage you to review or follow it! Especially with new ideas I love to hear what you have to say.


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't know why anyone thought this party would be a good idea. It's fucking cold outside," Gale mutters through the collar of his jacket. The start of a new semester is barely anything to get excited over - it's the middle of January and the wind blows silently with no regard.

"You didn't have to come," Thom grumbles, eyes fixed forward while walking down the street. "And the party is indoors, dumbass." He pulls his girlfriend closer into his embrace. Delly's a carefree and kind girl, Gale has always thought that she has her priorities in balance.

"No, don't worry Gale. It'll be fun, I know it."

"You don't _know_ that, Delly."

"Sure I do, just you wait."

So he waits. When he gets to the party the music is already too loud for his tastes. But it's music he likes, or knows at least, so Gale's able to bob his head and sip on the beer Thom passed him for a while before he realizes he's not enjoying it.

Gale never lets himself have fun at these parties, and he honestly thinks that there's something wrong with him. He never really talks to other people, maybe cracking a few jokes or talking briefly about school. Otherwise, all he feels like is a transient, barely there afterthought, someone that no one would remember was at the party at all. It was already rather late into the night that they showed up, and it only takes an hour more to decide to grab his jacket and leave.

The air is as chilly as he remembered it to be when he steps outside. Gale stuffs his hands in his pockets and is ready to start walking, but not before he looks at a girl sitting on the floor of the porch.

It's her, the new girl with the blonde hair. Her hands are hiding in her sleeves and she looks distraught in some sort of way. Gale would've expected one of her new friends to be looking out for her, but she seems to be all by herself.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asks softly. Even though the music is much louder than his voice, the girl is still startled.

"Yes," she replies unconvincingly. "I'm fine, just a little nauseated."

She tries to stand up then, maybe to prove her point, but she just stumbles. Gale races over to support her body. He can tell that she's tired, maybe she had too much to drink but he doesn't remember her ever drinking inside the party.

"Woah," he breathes when she puts her weight on his body. She seems to be getting worse somehow, more lethargic as time goes by. "Okay, could you give me your address? Some way for me to get you home?"

She's still awake but unresponsive to his words. All she does in lean her pretty head against his shoulder and clutch onto his torso tightly.

Gale thinks for a moment, wondering what the best course of action is. There's no way he's leaving her here, all alone, feeling so ill. She's clearly tired and just needs somewhere to rest, so he doesn't bother with his thoughts for any longer. He clutches her tight and urges her to walk with him.

The walk from the party to his own house is not long. It's substantially harder when the temperatures are low and there's a girl staggering alongside you, but Gale pushes that out of his head and concentrates on holding her up. He feels her body warmth and can smell her lavender shampoo, and he wants to think that he's doing this for her simply out of the good in his heart but he knows that it's also because he thinks she's pretty.

"I'm sorry," he hears her whisper into his coat. Perhaps she feels guilty about making him take care of her.

"What are you sorry for? We're almost there." They reach his lawn after a couple of long minutes. He sees that the kitchen light is still on, he knows that he has it coming from his mother. "Okay, these are a couple of steps, okay? I got you."

They make it up the steps slowly and he holds her tighter than he did before, scared she'll miss one or stumble like before. The door is unlocked, and when he tries to open it slowly and silently, the old hinges still let out a long creak.

"Gale?" his mother calls from the kitchen. Gale ignores her and heads for the living room.

"Lie down here," he offers the girl, and she curls her body inwards on the couch with no hesitation. "I'm going to get you some blankets, I'll be right back."

He sneaks out of the living room and is ready to go upstairs and fetch the sheets before his mother calls him again.

"Gale, please come to the kitchen."

He lets out a sigh and is already trying to formulate excuses for why he brought home this girl. Hazelle Hawthorne is sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of tea in her hand. Gale doesn't even want to find out what time it is, it would only make him feel guilty.

"Ma, I told you, you don't have to stay up for me."

"I can't sleep if I don't know for certain that you're safe," she replies with nonchalance. Putting the mug down, she stands up and walks up to her son. "Have you been drinking?"

"No. I mean, I drank half a beer, but I'm not drunk."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No. Jeez, ma. Do you need to breathalyze me or something?"

Hazelle lets out an exasperated sigh, and then looks to the side. "At least you were quiet. I don't want you waking up your siblings so late this semester, do you hear me?"

"Yeah, okay, I don't really enjoy myself at these parties anyway."

They stand in silence for a little while, ignoring the elephant in the room. Gale knows that his mom worries about him the most, he wishes that she would trust him to make the right decisions. But if she isn't going to ask him about the girl on their couch, maybe he should just explain.

"She wasn't feeling well at the party, I don't know where she lives. So I had to bring her here. I'll wake her up in the morning."

"I've never seen her before." Their high school is small enough for most students to know each other, as well as the parents.

"She's new. I didn't think anyone else would take care of her."

Hazelle still looks angry, but she sees that there wasn't any other option. So she shrugs and nods hesitantly. "Alright, I'm not going to pry. Just make sure she doesn't vomit on my carpet or anything."

"I don't think she's drunk, but I'll line it with newspapers."

"Thank you."

"I just need to get my blankets first and bring them down here."

His mom raises an eyebrow. "You were going to give her _your_ blankets? What were you going to use?"

"I don't know, nothing I guess. I can put on some layers."

She sighs again and laughs lightly. "Gale, you're too courteous, too… accommodating."

"I don't know what else to do."

"We have extra throws and blankets in my room, they're in the closet."

If his mom thinks that _Gale's_ too accommodating, she should try looking in the mirror sometime. She's reasonable and wants everyone to be treated well, and Gale really doesn't know what he would do without her.

When he gets the blankets and a stack of yesterday's newspapers, she's already fast asleep. Even when he doesn't know her, his mind starts to wander about who this new student really is. She seems like a mystery to him, and Gale just wants to figure her out.

He doesn't bother with the newspapers. She isn't drunk, she's something else.

* * *

Madge wakes up with a clear memory of how she got here. She remembers the boy who supported her and lying down on his couch, but she doesn't remember the blanket draped over her body.

She sits up and plants her feet on the ground, scoping around the homey room. It smells homey, she doesn't know how else to describe it. There's a tangy taste in her mouth and her stomach still aches.

Apparently it's normal, to feel nauseated and sick during recovery. Madge thought that eating a slice of pizza would be fine, but sometimes her body refuses to accept the food. And then the one beer that she thought would be a good idea to drink hit her in ways she never felt before, everything was foggy and slow. She sighs and it comes out louder into the room than she anticipated.

There's a new toothbrush sitting on the coffee table for her, so she takes it and looks for a bathroom. There doesn't seem to be one on the first floor, so she ventures upstairs and slips into the one there.

It's an invasion of privacy, using the sink that clearly belongs to her classmate and his siblings. There are four toothbrushes sitting in a cup on the counter, and Madge can smell the bottle of aftershave next to it. It smells like pine and spearmint.

She brushes quickly and is ready to slip out unnoticed, before the door at the end of the hall opens.

"Good morning," her stranger grumbles. He's tall and he's handsome. Madge used to daydream about dark hair and broad shoulders, but she clears her mind and nods politely back.

"Good morning. I was just about to leave."

"Do you know where to go?"

Madge thinks, realizing that she has little idea where in town she is. She knows that she's close to the party from last night, but not much else. "I.. well, I took the bus to the party last night."

He nods. "Great, I'm taking the bus too, actually. Do you wanna walk to the bus stop with me?"

"Yes, please. My name is Madge, by the way."

"I'm Gale," he replies, and Madge won't forget his name even if she tries.

They head downstairs and he reminds her to be quiet and careful not to wake his family. It's still rather early for a Saturday, and Gale explains that the reason he needs to take the bus is to get to work.

"Where do you work?" she asks him when they get on the bus, sitting closely next to each other and ignoring the rumble and the noise of the public vehicle.

"I'm a lifeguard at the local pool."

"Oh," is all Madge can say, letting that information sink in. "I guess… I guess you're always saving lives then."

He laughs softly, and it makes her smile. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Thank you for last night, I'm really sorry to bother your family or whatever."

"Don't worry about it, honestly."

Madge tries not to but she feels so bad about intruding on him like that. She notices that the hospital is coming up soon, and she decides to get off a stop early. No one at school really knows where she comes from, and even if she could probably trust Gale if she needed to, it's best if he doesn't find out.

"Where's the pool?" she asks curiously as she presses the stop request button.

"Three stops over."

"Okay. Well, I know where to find you then. Between your home, your school and your place of work," Madge jokes, making him laugh one more time.

"Yeah, okay. I'll see you around."

"Goodbye," she finishes, standing up and looking at him one more time before getting off of the bus.

It takes Madge ten minutes to walk from her "stop" to the hospital. The whole time, all she's thinking about is the boy. He's probably something to look forward too.

* * *

 **A/N:** What do you think is going to happen? Reviews are very much appreicated. Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

_They put me in a room_

 _And I thought of you in winter_

 _And I'm sad I won't see you again._

* * *

Even though she's wearing shoes, Madge can tell that the hospital floor is cold. She tries to sneak through the halls and avoid any of the nurses, but as soon as she feels a head turn she breaks out into a run towards the room.

"Madge Undersee!" the nurse calls behind her. The woman chases her down the corridor and follows Madge to her room. "Where have you been all night?"

"Nowhere," she shrugs. "It won't happen again." She sits down onto the bed and sheds her coat, ready to take the nurse's verbal spar.

"Of course not. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that Doctor Aurelius allowing you to be at school at _all_ is a privilege, dear."

"I know," Madge groans, lying down on the hospital cot and curling up her body for protection.

"If it wasn't for your father insisting that you make some friends with people your own age, it would've been very unlikely for the same thing to occur. Your party was a special circumstance, and we truly didn't expect that you'd be out past your curfew."

"I wasn't up all night dancing and having fun, you know?" she deadpans. Nurse Ritter, who has been looking after Madge for months now, softens her face and sits on the bed beside her. She doesn't _want_ to patronize her, Madge knows that, but she should've done something before she started to feel truly bad. Call the hospital, or something. "I wasn't well."

"Was it serious? Were you vomitting again?

"A little bit, I don't know. I was blurry, and my stomach hurt and I was exhausted. I don't think I'm ready to go out and socialize with all those people when I can't even keep food down."

"It takes time. Your body needs to get used to eating again."

"I know, I just…" Madge thinks about how to justify herself, how to possibly rationalize the way she's feeling right now. Recovery seems so far away, like a distant ideal she'll be chasing forever. "I know I have to eat. I know… how to eat, I know I wasn't looking after myself before, but, I'll do okay."

"You don't have to do it all on your own Madge, that's why you're here. That's why _I'm_ here."

Madge plays with the sleeves of her sweater. She thinks that although her night (and herself) were a disaster, yesterday wasn't all bad. She met that cute boy who works at the pool, his eyes were so grey that they made her shiver. She wonders what kind of people go to the pool in the middle of January, in a town like this.

"Are you going to call my parents?"

"No, I don't think that'll be necessary. I have faith that you'll call us if this ever happens to you again."

"I will, I promise."

"Thank you. You have an appointment with Doctor Aurelius this afternoon, but otherwise you're free for the rest of the morning. Is there anything that you'd like to do?"

Madge tries not to laugh, by "free" Nurse Ritter means within the confines of the hospital premises. She could technically sign herself out of the building, but she doubts the nurses would let her after last night, and besides, she really has nowhere to go. Her parents and friends are back home, and only brought her to this small town because of the recovery programs this hospital had to offer. She doesn't know anyone around here, nor does she know what to do with herself.

"I think I'll practice for a little bit."

"Perfect, I'll make sure the piano room is free for you to use. Why don't you take a shower first, I'll bring you breakfast."

Her mother had ensured that the hospital had a piano for her to continue practicing when she got here. The piano seemed to be the only constant for Madge in these past few months, but she'll gladly cling to it. Playing makes her feel comfortable, like she can breathe again, and nobody could take that away from her.

Madge showers lethargically and rinses away all traces of last night - the eyeliner she spent a good twenty minutes trying to get right, her matted hair, the sticky feel that coated all of her skin. She swears that she could smell Gale's aftershave still, just from standing in his bathroom, but right now it's all washed away. It's a smell she'll miss.

Breakfast should be appetizing, but when Madge steps out of her bathroom and sees the tray her heart just fills with dread.

Her relationship with food is strained, to say the least. Now, she's aware that it's good for her and she needs to eat it; there was a time when nothing tasted better than the cold satisfaction of water down her throat and into her empty stomach. But these days Madge feels hopeless that she'll ever look at a plate of anything and think that the smell is appetizing. She can't hold anything down, she fucked up her body too much, and now every attempt at eating well is just ruined by her imminent failure.

She nibbles on a couple pieces of fruit that she can digest fine. She doesn't even bother touching the eggs, and for the piece of toast, Madge closes her eyes and shoves it into her mouth and swallows blindly. It doesn't taste like much of anything, but that will have to do for now.

* * *

The pool is empty on Saturdays, really. An old man swims lengths back and forth at a leisurely pace, and Gale watches him closely with nothing else to do but stare.

These shifts always feel the longest, but Gale doesn't truly mind. It's far better than a noisy school hallway, and it's a reprieve from his busy home. In this guard chair, he feels like he can empty his mind and just concentrate on watching other people. It gets him out of his brain.

He learned a technique when he was in training, where he would count the heads in the pool to ensure that no one suddenly disappeared. Perhaps the trainers should've specified that if there were less than two people, there was no need. But Gale counts the one man's head over and over again; at least the guy is safe in his hands.

That thing that the girl, Madge, said on the bus was untrue.

" _I guess you're always saving lives then."_

" _Yeah, I guess you could say that."_

Gale doesn't think that what he's doing now constitutes as saving lives. Nor does he ever feel that way, other than his chivalrous act last night, he isn't a life saver. If anything he's a life withstander. He bears through life and hopes that's enough to send him good karma.

He would never have corrected her about it, though. The more admirably she thinks of him the better.

* * *

She plays with a forced ease, drawing on songs she knew far too well, yet far too long ago. Her piano at home had a rounder, sweeter sound. This piano is crisp and sharper, and she isn't used to this song sounding like this.

Madge doesn't know what's wrong with her. Usually just being near a piano makes it easier to get by, but right now this song sounds like a repetitive, monotonous tune. The uncomfortable notes that she's playing occupy every part of her brain to the point where she's aware of how unfortable it make her feel.

It's important to push through it, to get to the end of the song. Perhaps completing the sonata will bring Madge to some sort of emotional conclusion and fix the uneasy feeling.

Five bars before the end she has to stop. The broken notes are everywhere, screaming in her head and tightening in her stomach.

Madge leaves the piano bench and crouches on the floor. The feeling peaks and she heaves, the sound of her gagging echoes into the empty room and she hates it, she hates it so much. What little breakfast she had is now on the floor, and Madge thinks she'll take a break from her instrument for now.

* * *

 **A/N:** I don't want this story to be about a boy, "healing" a girl through her real life issues. Things like eating disorders and mental illness are complex and likely won't be cured by meeting another person, no matter how much they matter to you. Madge is more than just Gale and vice versa, do you know what I mean?

Comments and kudos are deeply appreciated, thank you for reading. :)


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